Dear Mr. Bruce,

Since my last letter there have been several interesting
happenings. Parliament reopened yesterday. The King's Speech
contained only two references of any interest from an Imperial
view point: firstly, an announcement of the intention to introduce
a Merchandise Marks Bill 'to provide in suitable cases for marking
imported agricultural produce and manufactured goods, so that they
may be distinguished from the products of this country, and Empire
goods distinguished from those of foreign origin'; secondly, a
Bill to give effect to the proposal for a 10,000,000 loan for the
development of British East Africa.

The omission of all reference to the schemes of educational
publicity recommended by the Imperial Economic Committee may be
serious.

Voluntary preference is at best a very dubious alternative to

either tariffs or import licences for assisting Empire products in
the United Kingdom markets. If voluntary effort is to have a
sporting chance of being effective, it is essential that the
Government responsible for putting it into effect should adopt the
plan with enthusiasm. If the Government continue to delay a
decision I fear a 'still birth' for the proposals.

MR. AMERY [1]

On Monday last I had an hour with Mr. Amery at the Colonial
Office. He was in very good form. He asked me frankly to express
my views about the Imperial Economic Committee and about Empire
trade. I told him that of the four possible methods of helping
Empire trade in United Kingdom markets (Tariffs, Import Licences,
Subsidies and Voluntary Preference) the first three had all been
rendered impossible for the time being by the action of the
Government itself. He expressed great surprise about the effect of
the Anglo-German Treaty. [2]

I told him that the Board of Trade quite definitely advised the
Imperial Economic Committee that the Treaty blocked any
possibility of using any form of prohibition on goods. He promised
to look further into the matter. I told him that I felt that,
under the circumstances, H. M. Government ought to embark with
vigour upon the voluntary preference scheme. He agreed but
indicated that there were diverse difficulties.

He asked me what sort of a report the Imperial Economic Committee
was going to produce on Fruit. I told him that I hoped it would be
a good one. He said he very much hoped so, for although he
regarded the First Report as really good, the Meat Report had left
no impression upon his mind. He then asked me what views the
Dominion Representatives on the Imperial Economic Committee held
about the proposed Executive Committee. I told him that, as I had
said to him before, we all regarded it as essential. He expressed
agreement and suggested that it should be connected with the
Dominion and Colonial Office rather than the Board of Trade. I
told him that the British representation on the Imperial Economic
Committee was deplorably weak; a view to which he did not dissent.

I told him that if he did not disapprove, I proposed to do
everything I could, in a quiet way, to make the back benchers of
the Conservative Party challenge the Government to produce real
and effective plans for Empire development and trade. He agreed
that this was most desirable even if it meant that he would have
to answer a host of questions which he would rather have left
unanswered.

Finally I said that, in my opinion, the Government had not given
the Imperial Economic Committee a fair spin and that, as the
Committee's scheme was the only available one, I hoped that he
could arrange that, at an early date, the Prime Minister [3] could
give the Government's strong blessing to Educational publicity.

I spoke extremely frankly throughout this interview and Mr. Amery
appeared to welcome this.

THE ROUND TABLE [4]

Through the good offices of Casey, I met Philip Kerr, who was
Lloyd George's [7] Secretary engaged with the Irish troubles and
who has succeeded Grigg [8] as Secretary of the Rhodes Trust. He
is one of the principal contributors to the Round Table. I had
dinner with him and John Dove, the Editor, was also there. Kerr
told me that the Round Table had decided that too long had they
allowed Lionel Curtis [9] to keep the group away from Empire
economics. They had, he said, come to realise that the real
solutions of Empire politics were to be found in Empire economics.

He was proposing to write an article on the subject in the
forthcoming number of the Round Table.

We had a long and interesting talk and finally Kerr asked me to
criticise his article. This I have done, of course, without
attempting to replace Kerr's views with my own. The Round Table
people have, in the past, been frigid to Preference and I think
that his article will be a very useful start in a better
direction. I told Kerr that, in view of the urgency of some action
before the proposed Imperial Conference, one article in the Round
Table would do little good and that vigorous propaganda was
required. He agreed and promised to get Geoffrey Dawson [10] of
the 'Times' to meet me in the near future and also to arrange a
meeting with some of his left wing Conservative friends.

LEADING ARTICLE IN 'DAILY TELEGRAPH'

I enclose copy of an article in the 'Daily Telegraph' of 1st
February. [11] I asked Archibald Hurd [12] to get Burnham [13] to
let him write on this subject.

ARTICLE

I enclose copy of the article to which I referred in my last
letter.

HOURS OF LABOUR

You may be interested to have your attention drawn to the
following paragraph in the King's Speech: 'Invitations are being
issued to the Governments of Belgium, France, Germany and Italy to
attend a Conference in London to consider the possibility of
securing an effective international agreement for regulating hours
of labour'. In a speech on the Address in Reply made yesterday,
Mr. Baldwin stated that British ratification of the Washington
Convention on Hours of Labour was conditional upon the successful
termination of this proposed Conference.

In this connection I think you may care to refer to my letter of
November 19th [14] in which I describe an interview with Mr.

Baldwin on the subject of the Labour Party Committee's Report on
the Importation of Sweated Goods and perhaps to the Report itself.

It is possible that the mention of this matter in the King's
Speech is connected with the Report.

AUSTRALIAN WINE

Through the High Commissioner's Office I received a memorandum
from the Department of Trade and Customs on Australian wine and
the Portuguese and Spanish treaties. This memorandum contained a
request that the Australian Representatives on the Imperial
Economic Committee should raise the question when an opportunity
occurred.

As there is no chance of such opportunity in the near future, I
propose to discuss the matter directly with Sir Sydney Chapman,
the Permanent Secretary of the Board of Trade.

Yours sincerely,
F. L. MCDOUGALL